Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Pigs Gone Wild!

The other I was driving down a logging road to one of my usual hiking spots when I saw a surprising sight: two baby pigs ran from the road into the woods nearby. I pulled over and the piglets soon emerged and continued eating some grain that had been thrown on the road.

They were such cute little guys with unusual black and white coats. One of them got a little curious about me sitting in my car, taking pictures.

Eventually the pig went back to eating alongside his sibling. I made the mistake of throwing them a date that I had in my knapsack...both of them squealed and bolted into the woods. I waited for awhile but they didn't return.

The next day I was driving down the same road and came across an even more amazing sight: a whole tribe of pigs of various sizes including the two babies and, judging by her full teats, their mother. There were seven pigs in all. Again, I pulled over and whipped out my camera to document the scene.

Family of Feral Pigs

To be honest, I'm not sure if these are feral pigs or if they belong to a nearby farm. I'd noticed the owner of the farm putting up a sturdier fence so it's possible the pigs kept escaping and that was her incentive.

After the pigs and I had a staring contest, I eventually figured out that they wanted to cross the road safely and were unsure about me sitting there. Finally their leader (mama pig, pictured on the right), seemed to understand that I was harmless and the pigs crossed in front of my van and trotted up somebody's driveway.

Tribe of Pigs with Big Mama

I guess the new fence worked because I haven't seen the group of pigs since.

You never know what you're going to see around here...never a dull moment!